In group $G$, the conjugacy class $\text{Cl}(a)$ of an element $a\in G$ is defined as $\{gag^{-1}:g\in G\}$. This can be rewritten as $\{\varphi(a):\varphi\in\text{Inn}(G)\}$, where $\text{Inn}(G)$ is the inner automorphism group of $G$, that is, the group of conjugation automorphisms.
But what if we do this for any automorphism? That is, define the automorphism class $\text{Al}(a)=\{\varphi(a):\varphi\in\text{Aut}(G)\}$. Just like usual conjugacy classes, automorphism classes partition $G$, and if two elements are in the same automorphism class, then they are indistinguishable by the group structure alone.
Moreover, an automorphism class must be a disjoint union of conjugacy classes. Thus, a few questions:
- Must the conjugacy classes that comprise the automorphism class have the same cardinality?
- If yes, must there be the same number of conjugacy classes for every automorphism class?
- If yes, is this number $|Out(G)|$?
EDIT: The answer to the second question is NO. So I change the third question to:
- If $Out(G)$ is finite, does the number of conjugacy classes always divide $|Out(G)|$?
For an instructive exercise, compute the automorphism classes of $G = D_8$, the dihedral group of order $8$.